Congress … has made political speech a felony for one class of speakers. Corporations and unions can face up to five years in prison for broadcasting candidate-related advocacy during federal elections.

The government defends this restriction by saying that corporations and unions are uniquely capable of amassing great wealth and must therefore be prevented from overwhelming the voices of others during an election. Relying on a 1990 Supreme Court decision (Austin v. Michigan State Chamber of Commerce), the government characterizes this threat as a “type of corruption” on the peculiar theory that such expenditures do not “reflect actual public support for the political ideas espoused by corporations.” Therefore, the government reasons, corporate expenditures “distort” the political process and must be banned.

In crafting McCain-Feingold, Congress acted without proof that such expenditures have any distorting effect on elections. And it responded to a nonproblem with a sledgehammer rather than a scalpel.

It will be interesting to see if this comes up as a topic of discussion this week as Barrett campaigns across the state.